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While the Tide is Out

Researchers take advantage of low tide to carry an instrument tower across the Skagit tidal flats north of Seattle in the summer of 2009. The team, which was led by WHOI physical oceanographers Britt Raubenheimer and Steve Elgar, included four swash zone fellowship students from colleges around the country. They erected several towers to record weather data such as wind speed and direction, which influence the movement of water and sediment on the flats. Tidal flats are coastal areas dominated by tidal flows rather than by crashing waves. At high tide, the Skagit flats are covered by up to 4 meters (13 feet) of water.(Photo courtesy of Britt Raubenheimer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)